


A Second Chance

by orphan_account



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Canon, F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-12
Updated: 2014-04-12
Packaged: 2018-01-19 02:17:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1451800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After her family shuns her Jenny is alone until a surprising meeting with someone who most certainly doesn't have a skin condition.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Second Chance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [failsafe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/failsafe/gifts).



“Charlie, you ought to hurry!”

“I’m hurrying, Jenny! Keep running!”

The pair dashed through the streets of London as fast as their legs could carry them. Every so often they would look over their shoulder to see if they were being followed but the farther away they got the more obvious it became that they were in the clear. They kept running until they ducked into a familiar alley way.

“How much you get?” Jenny asked, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the bag clutched in Charlie’s thin hands.

He grinned and quickly pulled open the small pouch. When he poured the contents of the bag in his hand the grin quickly faded. “This won’t feed us for more than a day!”

“My turn,” Jenny said with a wink and a grin that almost rivaled Charlie’s previous one. She opened the pouch she had and this time the grin didn’t fade. It instead got wider.

“I taught you well,” Charlie said confidentially.

“You aren’t taking credit for this, Charlie,” Jenny said firmly. “I did this on my own.”

It was her brother Charlie that taught her how to pick locks and steal without anyone so much as noticing. She was teasing and Charlie knew that. Still, he gave her a look but soon they broke out into a fit of laughter.

“We best be getting home. Mom will be worrying,” Charlie reminded her.

They dashed out of the alley and into the streets. It wasn’t long before they reached their home and slipped inside where sound of children quickly which was nothing new. When their footsteps were heard two boys ran out into the kitchen and hugged them.

Jenny was the second born to her parents and the first (and only) girl to boot. Her older brother Charlie had taken her under his wing and together they tried to help as much as they could. With their father working long days at the factory it fell on them to help out.

“Where have you two been? You nearly missed supper,” their mother scolded once she set her sights upon Jenny and Charlie.

“We were helping!” Jenny said and though her mother frowned she accepted the money. Her mother was a proud woman but not that proud enough to admit that they needed it.

Struggling was the only life Jenny had known but she had a family and it made it easier because they were there for each other, However, that changed as she became older. She was in her teen years when the feelings first came on. Jenny wasn’t sure what to make of it at first but then she met Lucy and it all made sense.

They were smitten with each other though looking back Jenny would probably admit she felt more for Lucy then she did for her. The two were as discreet as they could be until Charlie stumbled upon them one evening. Lucy had shoved her away the moment they were discovered and practically ran back home. It left Jenny alone and facing the brother she adored so much.

“I don’t understand, Jenny,” Charlie muttered.

Jenny wished she had an explanation for him but all she could manage was a weak smile. “I can’t explain it, Charlie. It’s just how I feel.”

“It isn’t right, Jenny.”

She reached for him but he pulled away. It caught her by surprise and Jenny tried not to show the hurt on her face. “Please don’t tell, Charlie. Mom and dad would never understand.”

“I don’t understand,” Charlie repeated and this time the anger was more evident in his tone but Jenny tried her best to overlook that.

“Try to understand, Charlie. It’s just like when you fancy a girl,” Jenny explained in a pleading tone.

“But you are a girl.”

Jenny pleaded with him not to tell and for a while Charlie kept his mouth shut but things weren’t the same between them. He would look at her with this expression (a similar one Lucy now gave her) and it was clear she had lost him. All Jenny could do was hold her head high and try to go on with life and it worked until Charlie blurted out the secret to their parents during an argument one evening.

It was that day that Jenny was shunned by her family and they cast her out with nothing but the clothes on her back. She was a clever little thief so she bounced back quickly but there was only so much that could be earned by pickpocketing and breaking into homes into the dead of night. Jenny made sure to stick to homes where a little missing money wouldn’t go noticed and she remained uncaught but it was a measly way to survive.

There weren’t many options for a girl like her. Either she could continue to steal or go to the workhouses and for Jenny that wasn’t an option because she had seen what they did to her father. She continued to steal but one day she stole from the wrong people. It was bound to happen given her good track record but Jenny never thought it would. The problem was she had gotten cocky and cockiness didn’t always get you very far on the streets.

Jenny fought and screamed as they pulled her into an alleyway and threw her down. She tried her best to fight them off but her thieving skills wouldn’t help her against these two men. It made her wish she had taken her brother up on those boxing lessons.

“This will teach you to still from us!” one of the men shouted.

They kicked her once, twice, and then went for a third one but the blow never came. Jenny lifted her head to see the two men lying unconscious side by side and when she lifted her head up to get a good look at her savior she gasped in surprise. The person who had saved her didn’t look human in the least.

“Is that… a skin condition?” Jenny asked.

“Of course it isn’t,” a female voice responded and she looked almost offended.

Jenny let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding and then nodded. She picked herself off the ground, brushed herself off as best she could and then looked at the woman. “I can say that’s good to know then.”

The woman regarded her just as strangely for a moment and then managed an amused smile. “That has to be one of the most interesting reactions I’ve gotten from one of you apes.”

“I’m no ape, ma’am,” she said firmly. “We prefer to be called humans- well the lot of us do anyway.”

“It’s the most interesting reaction I’ve ever gotten from one of you humans before,” she corrected. “Is that more to your liking?”

Jenny nodded. “Yes and thank you.”

“For using the correct term?” she asked wryly.

“No for saving me.”


End file.
